BOCA STUDENTS WERE IN CLASS; COMPUTER NEEDS EDUCATING

Big Brother was so busy watching at Boca Raton High School this week, he tripped on his own shoelaces.

A computer at the high school, programmed to automatically dial telephone numbers and issue prerecorded messages to parents of students with unexcused absences, went haywire this week, calling parents of students who actually attended classes.

"Usually, we say it was human error. But in this situation, the humans worked perfectly. It was the machine that fouled up," said school Principal Art Johnson. "It decided it would call everybody. I don't know why."

Phone calls were made between 6 and 9 p.m. Tuesday, according to school administrators.

"We don't make a lot of calls before 5 p.m.," Johnson said, because parents are still working.

It was not known how many phone calls were made, since an automatic counter also didn't work.

A programmer from the Palm Beach County school district's Management Information Services Department was expected to investigate the glitch this morning.